Case Number 24235

Marvel Anime: Blade

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All Rise...

Judge Mike Rubino is performing Film Criticism Technique #4.

The Charge

"I hunt vampires, those creatures that prowl the night preying on
humans."

Opening Statement

In 2010, Marvel teamed up with legendary anime production house Madhouse
Studios to re-introduce some of its most popular properties to Japanese
audiences. Blade, the fourth and final Marvel
Anime series, was perhaps the most fitting for the folks who gave us Vampire
Hunter D: Bloodlust.

Facts of the Case

Eric Brooks was born a half-breed. His mother was bitten by a vampire while
pregnant, granting him most of the good aspects of being a blood sucker while
also allowing him to stroll around in the sun. After extensive martial arts
training and lots of growing up, Eric became "Blade" and swore to exact revenge
upon Deacon Frost, the vampire responsible for killing his mom.

In Marvel Anime: Blade, Eric is in Japan, tracking down Frost and an
evil gang of vampires known as "Existence." His journey leads him all over the
eastern hemisphere, as he fights off every breed of vampire monster
imaginable.

The Evidence

If there's a Marvel property suited for the crazed and melodramatic stylings
of Japanese animation, it's Blade. The
sword-wielding vampire hunter has always had some martial arts roots, and his
rise to fame with the Wesley Snipes films redefined the character for the modern
comic fan. He's no longer some castle spelunking C-level superhero, he's a major
player in the Marvel Universe…and he kicks all kinds of butt.

Marvel Anime: Blade is the best the "daywalker" has looked since Blade II. The noir tones, acid-washed color
palette, and reserved animation fit the vampire scene like Blade's black gloves
(I think he wears gloves). Madhouse wisely keeps the show's content on an adult
level, filling the screen with plenty of macabre gore and monsters, without
spilling over into that weird R-rated anime that makes people uncomfortable. The
show borrows its tone straight from the Hollywood films, and provides a seamless
continuity for the character.

Blade upholds his M.O. as cold and aloof. He's focused on the hunt for
Deacon and, even though he occasionally gets sidetracked over the course of
these 12 episodes, the story remains as streamlined as anime gets. Each
installment follows a similar pattern of plot development, character moments,
and all-out freeze frame text-on-the-screen brawl. You know, like Fist of the North Star meets Ninja Scroll.

It's the character moments, however, that don't translate well to Western
sensibilities. The show has a lot of brooding. Like, a lot a lot. Every
episode has long moments of some character staring off all forlorn, or Blade
experiencing a flashback to his childhood. While anime fans may be used to this
sort of celluloid introspection, I felt it dragged out the runtime and brought
the momentum to a halt. While these moments may work in live-action, they don't
hold up in the world of cartoons.

That said, these anime-oriented tendencies are what appeals to fans of the
genre and comic books. The animation is great, and the character designs are
detailed and interesting—especially the horrific monsters that populate
the East Asian locales. In one of the supplements, the show's creators talk
about drawing from Japanese and Asian vampiric legends which are quite different
from the rich European loverboys we usually see. Marvel Anime: Blade
successfully straddles that line between faithful comic series and a new
refreshing take on the character.

Presented in standard definition 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen and Dolby 5.1
Surround, this two-disc, 12-episode set looks and sounds great. The audio
features both the original Japanese language track with subtitles and an English
dub that's actually respectable. In terms of extras, we get a couple insightful
featurettes covering the development of the show and the character.

Closing Statement

Marvel Anime: Blade is a Japanese melodrama with enough cool
animation, awesome action, and thematic connection to the Blade franchise to keep longtime fans interested.
Assuming you aren't annoyed by all the anime quirks, there's a lot to enjoy
here.